Are You in a Situation?
Vincent Ongori
Midland SDA Church
November 3, 2012
-Let us pray: Our Father who hath in heaven, we have
tuned-off to tune-in and listen to Your WORD;
Let Thy WORD find its place in the minds and hearts of all present, in Jesus
Name we pray, Amen !
-John 5:1 starts by telling us that Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem to attend a feast of the Jews.
-John 5:2-7 : {Define Process}
2 Now there is
in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which
is called in Hebrew, Bethesda,[a] having five
porches.
3 In these lay a
great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving
of the water.
4 For an angel went down at a certain time
into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after
the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.[b]
5 Now a certain man
was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.
6 When Jesus saw
him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He
said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”
7 The sick man
answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is
stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”
Here was a man who was in a situation; he had been infirmed for 38
years …when I checked the dictionary: infirmed means weak
in body, especially from disease or old age.
Now to be in that condition for 38 years is a long time; its equivalent to
33870 days +;or 332880 hours…
I don’t know about you, but if to be unwell for just a minute…is a minute to loooong!
-Despite being in this discomforting situation, this man never lost hope; and
that’s why he was present amongst the multitude, by the pool of Bethesda;
-All he wanted was to be made well, and the only way was through the
process..i.e be at Bethesda, wait for the angel to stir the water at a certain
time and be the first one to step into the pool…and bam , he would have been
made well.
-So for anybody amongst the multitude it was a case of ‘winner takes it all’.
-I can imagine, day after day, the man always hoping to be the first one step
into the pool, after the angel had stirred the water, and his disappointment / frustration
when someone else beat him to it.
-He may have tried various ways, all aimed at becoming the first one to step
into the pool, but all in vain.
-May-be he had even have tried to get someone to help him but no-one was
willing…that qualifies his response in verse 7{John 5:7}
Does that ring a bell:…
In the world which we live in…Success is highly overrated…and as the saying
goes….:
“Success has many fathers, while failure is an orphan” …we all try to be
associated with Success and evade failure at all costs….
As in when you are in a situation its common for those whom you thought were
your many friends all of a sudden all gone; and the best you could get would be
a voice-mail and if very lucky some may return your call.
-Going back to Bethesda all that raced in this man’s mind was how to be the
first one into the pool and nothing else. His focus was on the process.
-Today, you may be in a situation, by design or default, and your only hope
lies in the ‘Process’ i.e . to be the first one into the pool, or to bring it
to today’s terms :
-to be the most successful,
-to be the best of the best
-to be the MVP
But I have a message for you: QUIT FOCUSSING ON THE PROCESS and
look unto Jesus.
-He who knows your very situation, because that’s why Jeremiah 1:5 tells us:
“Before
I formed you in the womb I knew you;
If GOD
brought you to it….He will see you through it.
-And you need to watch-out because GOD’s blessings come disguised in mysterious
ways…how else could a young boy’s lunch -5 loaves and 2 fish Get the
Disciples out of a Situation -feed a multitude in the wilderness (Mk
8:1-9).
OR
How else could a captive maid cure a Captain Naaman.
-It does not matter what situation you are in :
(i) Troubled marriage, feel like you have given it your all, I have a message
for you ;
Jer.29:11
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord,
thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
(ii) You have been married and have no children, let me remind you that a lady
by the name of Hannah , was provoked, miserable and always wept but she held on
and in 1 Samuel 1:20 GOD answered her prayer and she conceived a son-Samuel,
who went on to become a PROPHET.
(iii) Your dreams, desires or intentions may have gotten you into a pit, but be
strengthened by the experience of Joseph; who always focused on GOD no matter
his situation, and ended up in the palace, having started in a pit situation.
(iv)
Your health may be failing you, and all have written you off. Results from
every test confirm the worsening of your health; but hear this:
no one faced a much worse situation than King Hezekiah,who had even been told
of his impending death by Prophet Isaiah…did you hear, Prophet Isaiah informed
Hezekiah that he needed to put his house in order because he would die…..but
glory be to GOD because King Hezekiah faced the wall and prayed to GOD…and
GOD heard his prayer…Isaiah 38:5
He who created DNA can recreate DNA .
(v) You may have been by-passed come promotion time and you feel like you have
hit the ‘glass-ceiling’.
Everybody who was in your graduation class is way ahead in their careers, but
don’t despair, your promotion is coming and nobody gonna stand on the way of
your Divine-appointment;
David’s anointing followed a similar pattern,he was way in the field attending
to his father’s flock and all his seven brothers came before Samuel,but they
were not the chosen ones…God’s time is the best Time.
(vi)And
for my friends in School, don’t stay caught up in a situation created by those
who bully you, or post bad and evil stuff on your FB walls or You-tube;
my kind advise to you is found in Genesis 50:20 -
But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to
bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.
(vii)And
lastly as we go into the elections, GOD already knows who will be in rulership.
As a nation the solution to our problems and situation is found in 2 Chronicles
7:14-
If My people who are called by My Name will humble themselves, and pray and
seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven,
and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
We
have focused too much on idols and Hollywood celebs and turned away from GOD.
Let’s turn back and look at Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith Hebrews
12:2
In conclusion, what Jesus told the man in vs 8- had nothing
to do with the process (Bethesda);John 5:8-9
8 Jesus said to
him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.”
9 And immediately
the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.
And that day was the Sabbath.
He got out of a 38-year situation not thru the process but at the WORD of
Jesus.
I don’t know whether you are in a situation, but as a sinner I know I am and
only Jesus Christ can make me well.
Jehovah Rapha –healer;
Jehovah Nissi-Victory;
Jehovah Jireh – provider.
I choose to quit focusing on worldly processes and solutions and seek Jesus.
20 Now
to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think,
according to the power that works in us, 21 to
Him be glory in the church by
Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
-Testimony of Healing through Prayer made on a long-distance phone call..
Are You in a Situation ?